


Surprise guest.

by VathySkotadi



Category: Toradora!
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25373335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VathySkotadi/pseuds/VathySkotadi
Summary: After graduation, Minori shows up at Ami's house for some reason. Ami can guess the reason. But can she face it?
Relationships: Kawashima Ami/Kushieda Minori
Comments: 19
Kudos: 83





	Surprise guest.

Ami examined Minori Kushieda with a look of skepticism, which she tried to mask as her blinking at the light of the setting sun. “Hey Amin, thanks for having me,” the red haired girl said with a smile that denoted zero happiness. She was still wearing her school clothes, despite the fact that school had ended a long while ago.

“I don’t remember inviting you,” Ami leaned against the frame of the door, blocking the way. What was she doing here, looking so down, on the day they had graduated?

That was a rhetorical question. She already knew the answer. “And for the trouble, I have brought offerings!” Minori declared, raising her hand and showing her a bag of snacks.

Ami eyed the bag, then Minori’s face, and sighed. For the sake of them both, she decided to not ask why she’d come to _her_ of all people. “Well, I guess I can’t say no to that,” she stepped inside, allowing her friend to step in. As she switched her shoes for guest slippers, Ami noticed that the amount of snacks in the bag was definitely too much for a single person. “Aren’t you a… What did you call yourself? A ‘diet warrior’? Why bring so many snacks?”

“Once in a while can’t harm, can it?” Minori said with faked cheerfulness.

Ami decided not to continue down this route. Instead, she simply led Minori to the kitchen, where her relatives greeted her. Five minutes later, they were in Ami’s room, sitting around a small tea-table and opening their first bag of snacks. The room was orderly, though there were a couple of socks and a few papers on the ground. Ami hadn’t been expecting visits, she was going to clean up tomorrow.

Minori didn’t say anything, instead eyeing the bag with guilt and hesitation as she ate a potato. She eyed Ami from time to time, as if expecting her to start the conversation.

“So, was the sight of them together too much to bear?” Ami cut to the chase, biting a potato right after asking. The normally cheerful girl and her had grown… closer, over the past year.

To Ami’s surprise, Minori didn’t have much of a reaction to a question that was aimed at a vulnerable spot. “Eh, didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might,” she shrugged. “In fact, what I think annoyed me the most was that Taiga didn’t even tell us she was coming. And then she went straight to Ryuji’s, not even letting us celebrate her comeback.”

She looked surprisingly honest as she spoke. Ami took a few seconds to reply, looking out the window and at the dimming light of day. She’d have to turn her light on sooner rather than later. When she looked back at Minori, the girl was looking at another piece of potato with doubt. “If you don’t want to eat, don’t do it.”

“But I have to do it! Eating to your heart’s content is what a girl must do when she’s feeling down!” She declared as she shoved the potato in her mouth.

“Then eat a salad or something,” Ami took the bag of potatoes away from Minori. “I don’t really want to watch you give puppy eyes to every potato, as if doing that made it have less calories.”

Minori stopped to look at her with intense eyes.

“W-what?” Ami got a really weird feeling. She didn’t want Minori looking at her so much.

“Ami-dono, could it be that you’re… worrying about me?” There was the hint of a smirk in Minori’s otherwise very serious face as she spoke.

“Hell no,” Ami turned her face away, eating another potato. “I just don’t wanna deal with your hijinks is all.”

“Then why did you let me into your house?”

Ami eyed her and deadpanned. “Because I’d be a bad friend if I just left you hanging there, looking all miserable.”

The exaggerated surprise reaction from Minori made the entire table tremble. “Was my mood that obvious?! And here I thought I had done a good job at hiding it…”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Maruo and the couple of idiots didn’t notice anything weird,” Ami shook her head. “They’re too dense.”

“Ah, that’s a relief,” Minori sighed. “Wouldn’t want to make things awkward with them.”

Ami felt a small rush of bitterness run through her. “I thought you had moved on, to be honest.”

Minori chuckled sadly. “I thought so too, you know? But then I saw them being lovey-dovey and it just… I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I guess it’s not that easy to forget about…” she trailed off.

“How you got heartbroken twice and the two people you had a crush on ended together?” Ami finished for her.

“Basically. I’m happy for them, I really am, it’s just… Looking at them brought a lot of painful memories back,” she smiled at Ami. “But enough about my feelings. What about you?”

“What about me?” Ami raised an eyebrow.

“You liked Ryuji too, right?”

Ami almost choked on the potato she’d begun eating. “What?! Where’d you get _that_ idea?”

Minori smiled. “You see, you may be the most observant among us, but I’m not half bad myself! Plus, what other reason would you have had to steer us all in the right direction anyways?”

Damn this girl, she was far sharper than she pretended to be. Ami needed to stop forgetting that. “Fine, yeah. I used to kinda like Takasu, so what?” she shrugged. “I realized fairly early on that he was into Taiga and then his stupid dense attitude annoyed me. I don’t have a single trace of feelings left for him. Let fools be in love with fools, I’ll step aside and wait for someone worthy of me to come.”

“Ah, I see, waiting for the knight in shining armor to swoop in with his horse and take you off into the sunset!”

“More like just wanting someone who at least listens to me when I talk,” Ami faced Minori again, putting the bag down. “Here, if you’re really gonna eat, just grab a bunch and shove them into your mouth.”

Minori seemed satisfied with her answer, and she hesitated for a second before getting a determined look and just fishing for a handful of potatoes and shoving them into her mouth as Ami had suggested. She munched loudly for a few seconds before swallowing. She then fetched a bottle of soda and drank half of it in one go. “Ah! There! I did it,” she put the soda down. “I am now allowed to eat properly!”

Ami rolled her eyes.

“In any case, given your answer…” Minori reached for another potato, and this time she didn’t hesitate. “I take it you don’t have anyone you like?” She asked with a bit of a playful tone as she waved the potato around before eating it.

That was a very innocent question. Also one Ami had the feeling Minori had asked with an intent hidden behind her now nonchalant smile. Smirking and leaning forward, Ami answered, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I mean,” Minori met her eyes. “You’re the most gorgeous person ever, right? I’m sure you’d get anyone you wanted in a heartbeat if you put your mind to it.”

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Ami was starting to get frustrated with this… tip-toeing. This wasn’t like her. Or maybe it was _too much_ like her. Insinuations, hints, clues, but never saying things outright. Even after slowly learning to drop her façade, it seemed like Ami had never fully understood what being forward meant. “Maybe the person I like can’t be charmed so easily,” she retorted.

“Ah, so you like someone!” Minori pointed a triumphant finger at her.

 _Shoot._ Ami snorted, looking away again. She also seemed to do that a lot. “It was just an example.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Ami paused, looking from the corner of her eye. Minori had said that with such certainty, and she was looking at her with a piercing gaze. Damn it, she… was serious. Ami chewed on her lip for a second before answering. “Well, what you believe is up to you.”

In response, Minori crawled around the table in a flash and nearly crashed with Ami in trying to meet her eyes. “I. Don’t. Believe you.”

 _Too close!_ Ami backed away, feeling her face grow red. “Geez, get away from me!” she cried, hitting the bed with her back. “What do you care who I like or who I don’t like?” Why was she acting so surprised? Great, her heart was pounding now.

Minori got close again. “Come on, be honest! Is there someone you like?”

“Since when are you this pushy?!” Ami asked. The other girl was so close to her, looking at her with such intensity…

“I am the only one who can grant me happiness,” she said, never breaking eye contact. “Watching Taiga and Ryuji together hurt me, but it also made me realize something else. If I don’t act on my feelings, someone else might come and steal who I like from me!”

Ami’s heart pounded on her chest with strength, and she was way too self conscious about how close Minori was. About her beautiful ruby eyes, her long eyelashes, her- _Pull yourself together, girl!_

“Why are you acting so scared?” Minori asked. “We’ve been closer than this before. You don’t think I’m gonna beat you again, do you?”

Ami tried to get her breathing under control. “This-This is too sudden,” she explained. Minori’s clear intention behind those words hadn’t been lost to Ami, but acknowledging them right now was… Too much.

God damn it, she was a coward.

“Ok,” Minori backed away and smiled, going back to her original spot at the other side of the table. “I’ll give you all the time you need,” she nodded, eating another potato.

Ami felt herself able to relax again. She hesitantly approached the table too. She definitely didn’t want Minori to get the wrong idea, even though she was certain they were both aware of what the other felt, even if it hadn’t been explicitly stated by either of them.

“Why…” she hesitated for a moment. Strange. “Why did you come here?” Ami asked after she’d calmed down.

“In which sense?”

“Aren’t you afraid?” Ami looked into Minori’s eyes. “You’ve been heartbroken twice. Do you really want to risk getting hurt again?” Great. Just before, they could still pretend this was not gonna happen. But she’d just had to keep on pushing.

Did she want this to happen? Ami wasn’t sure.

“I don’t, obviously,” Minori shrugged. But the smile she gave Ami was genuine. “But if I don’t risk it, I’ll never know, right?”

“Couldn’t it have waited until tomorrow? Or some other day? We could’ve met somewhere nicer, maybe…” Ami trailed off, a bit put off by Minori’s stare. Damn, that girl could be intimidating when she wanted. “Maybe set things up better.”

Minori didn’t answer immediately. Ami was annoyed at that, but it wasn’t uncommon for her. Through the past years, Ami had had a really confusing love life. Going from thinking the only good man in the world was Maruo, to liking Ryuji, to realizing he was an idiot in love with someone else. And then… There was Minori.

She’d toyed with her. She’d been frustrated with her. She’d even fought with her. Now they were near best friends. Why hadn’t she gone after her own happiness? Not realizing her own feelings for Taiga until it was too late. Realizing her feelings for Ryuji but deciding to put Taiga’s happiness first. Losing them both… to each other.

Minori hadn’t been able to see the ghosts until they’d gone off somewhere else. That night, when she’d fallen on her door, crying because of her massive heart-break, Ami had started to realize the only person that hadn’t gotten closure with in terms of relationships was Minori Kushieda.

But… Why had Ami been so insistent on it all? At the time she’d liked Ryuji too. Kind of. Why had she tried to get Minori to act? Out of the goodness of her heart? Yeah, sure. She’d just wanted Minori to be happy too. And instead, she’d just left her own happiness in the air.

She was far more like Minori than she was willing to admit.

“It doesn’t really matter where I confess, does it?” Minori asked. “Your answer won’t change whether we’re here or at a nice restaurant.”

“Well, I guess you’re—” Ami paused, looking up and meeting Minori’s eyes. She had the cutest smile plastered on her face. “D-did you just…?”

“It was rather roundabout, but I’d say yes,” she answered happily. “Or do you want me to be more clear?”

“I-” Ami was speechless. A rare occurrence! But this situation certainly merited it.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Minori clapped once, leaving her hands together as if in prayer. “Ami Kawashima, reincarnation of Aphrodite, Goddess of Beauty: I like you! Please go out with me!”

Ami’s heart seemed to go into a frenzy, and her face burned up. “You can’t just…” she trailed off again, knowing that wasn’t what she had to say. Looking into Minori’s face, she… Couldn’t really keep holding back. “Geez, fine. I… accept,” she tried to keep her composure.

Minori separated her hands and beamed. “Ah! The goddess has granted me her boon! But she doesn’t seem to be very direct about it,” she once again crawled around the table though now with a more subdued speed. “It may be too much for a mere worshipper to ask, but I’d like to hear how she feels too.”

Ami grit her teeth. Once again, having Minori this close was threatening to drive her crazy. Minori wanted her to say she liked her, didn’t she? Well, then she’d just… Couldn’t do it. But maybe…

Her eyes were drawn to Minori’s lips. If Minori of all people could be so direct, maybe Ami could find her own ways of being direct too.

She leaned forward, closing her eyes on instinct.

Minori met her mid-way, and their lips joined.

A jolt of electricity ran through Ami’s body. Like a thousand kilograms lifted off her back, she suddenly felt lighter. And warmer. Minori’s lips were so warm, and soft. She tasted a bit of the potatoes they’d been eating, but that was irrelevant.

The kiss didn’t last long. Not that Ami didn’t want it to, but she’d rather speak her mind before every thought she had just slipped off because of how… Happy she was right now. “There. That’s how I feel. I…” _Say it._

“Come on, Kawashima-san, you can do it! Fight-on!” Minori cheered her on.

“Shut up!” Ami pushed her playfully. As Minori chuckled, she took a deep breath. “I…” She paused again. “Stop looking at me like that, you’re just making it harder!” Minori’s intense stare could be really oppressive.

“Sorry, I just… Wanna make sure I listen to it and save it up in the deepest archives of my memory,” Minori said.

Ami could kind of understand. Then, an idea sprung to mind to avoid such a gaze. “Here,” she took Minori’s head and pushed her closer. The redhead looked startled for a second, but Ami didn’t go for her lips, instead putting her mouth next to her ear and whispering, “I love you.”

For the first time in the while they’d spent together, when Ami pulled back, she was able to see Minori’s flustered face. “Wowzers, I hadn’t expected you to say that with such a sexy voice. I’m definitely saving this in the most important places of my head!”

“Oh shut up,” Ami rolled her eyes, and taking advantage of the fact that she already had Minori grabbed, she just pulled on her to bring them closer. “So… when did you realize you liked me?”

Minori pecked her before answering. “I’m not sure, really. Maybe that time we fought it was more than about just Ryuji and Taiga, now that I think about it.”

“Man, we’re a mess,” Ami chuckled. She stared into Minori’s eyes, and though she could have said a lot more, for once, she let her actions speak for her, leaning forward and kissing Minori with all the pent-up feelings she’d been hiding for a while now.

She’d assumed Minori to be too hurt to take that step just yet. She’d wanted to give her time. Seemed like it had been enough.

“Sorry if what I said earlier about Ryuji and Taiga put you off, but…” Minori broke their kiss.

“It’s ok, I get it,” Ami smiled. Genuinely. “Feelings are often complicated. We’re complicated.”

“Maybe we’re too complicated for our own good,” Minori chuckled.

“Yeah,” Ami didn’t really have a lot more to say. She realized that right now she was content with just staring at Minori like this. “Do you wanna stay the night? And just to be clear, I don’t have any ulterior motives with this. My relatives are still here after all. They’re probably wondering what all the ruckus we made was about.”

Minori smiled for a second, but then she pulled back and grabbed her head. “Oh no. I should have guessed this could’ve happened, but I forgot to bring a change of clothes! Wait here, I’ll run home and-”

Before she could stand, Ami grabbed her by the wrist and made sure she stayed put. “Minorin, please. No need to go home; just borrow some of my clothes.”

“Are you sure?” Minori asked, genuinely worried. It was kinda cute.

“I’d rather not have you leave. Not right now,” she pulled Minori close again. After so much time holding back, now that she’d opened herself, she wasn’t going to waste any time.

“I’d rather not leave too,” Minori confessed before their lips touched.

They kissed again, and this time, there was no reason to stop until they got tired.

**Author's Note:**

> "Why," you may ask, "are you writing a fanfic about two side-characters in an anime that aired 11 years ago?"  
> And my answer, my dear reader, is "I rewatched Toradora - my favourite romance anime - because I had this vague recolection of Minorin and Ami maybe being a plausible thing. I went in not expecting much. I came out with a quite literal confirmation that Minorin is bisexual and with pretty great groundwork for her relationship with Ami to work."  
> So I wrote this.  
> I wrote it in less than 2 hours.  
> Well, it is one of my favourite anime after all. It was really fun to write this. I thought I'd have a harder time, but I guess after watching this anime so many times I have a fairly good grasp of how these characters work.
> 
> If you enjoyed this, and would like to see _some more of it_ , consider _checking out_ my twitter or contacting me through Discord!  
> -Twitter: @BillErak (95% of this account is retweets of shitposting or gay stuff, check pinned tweet)  
> -Discord Tag: VathýSkotádi#1696  
> I'd really appreciate the _support!_


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